If the world wasn't ending || LeviHan

》Chapter 20《

PoV: Levi

The tunnels we were seemingly walking through had gotten blackened by the abuse of years. They appeared to go on and on into the black without an end in sight or possibility of sunlight, tracks to nowhere that lead only to the cold. I reached out one hand to the wall that was on my left, allowing myself to grasp the bits of graphits beneath my finger tips. Then I took a step forwards, and another, and another, until I felt myself almost running into one wall right in front of me if I hadn't kicked against it first by accident.

"Hm." I put my palm against it, feeling along the edges which discerned roughly and firm. No way there'd be a way out that quickly.
Adding up to that, everything was still pitch black without any source of light. Not even a small slit or anything. A useless case, apparently.

"Did you know that graphite is formed by the metamorphosis of sediments containing carbonaceous material and by the reaction of carbon compounds with hydrothermal solutions or magmatic fluids, or possibly by the crystallization of magmatic carbon?" Hange suddenly asked out of nowhere, their voice surprisingly close to my ear to my left, almost causing me to wince away. I'm getting paranoid in this claustrophobic bullshit, Jeez.

"Now I do." My response probably sounded dryer than I wanted it to be, but oh well.

"Great! Oh- Say, Levi, how are you feeling?" They grabbed after my hand again, interlocking our fingers before pulling me slightly after them, my face heating up for the time being. Thank God it was dark.

"This isn't a therapy session, four eyes. Care about your own problems." Rolling my eyes, I let my free hand slide into my pocket, subconscious fiddling with the bandages around my two finger stumps, still not used to having those gone.

"Oh come on, shorty! We're stuck here anyway so why don't we use it for some good ol' small talk?" Their laugh filled the room, leaving echos behind connections with our steps that did the same, having a somewhat calm reaction on me. Perhaps it was easier when I knew they'd be alright.

A sigh left my mouth, resulting in me closing my eyes for a moment to organize myself again.
"We had small talk for about a whole week. And there's nothing to talk about. Especially not my feelings. So just keep walking until there's a way out." Even though I sounded a tad cold, I could count on the fact Hange knew I didn't mean it the exact same way I spoke. After working together since so many years, almost a decade, I doubted they'd question it.

"Hmm, alright let me just tell you about when..." Whilst Hange was ranting about their projects and experiments they never got to test, I suddenly felt the urge to catch a sharp breath when my lungs felt too heavy for my body to bear, as if the oxygen couldn't get through to me properly.

I had never been really claustrophobic before, but in that almighty swell of big and dark walls I felt the panic rise in my chest. The further in we moved I had to take in deeper breaths and as if my feet failed to keep up I risked stumbling any second. Being blind and unfocused. There was nothing for it but to move and hope to find a way out. This was hell, my own personal one.

"...so I of course did that and- Are you okay? You sound like a pug with asthma breathing that hard," Hange stopped walking, since I was holding their hand I did the same automatically.
"Or as if you just got rai-" I was practically able to see them grinning in the secret of the darkness in my mind, therefore I interrupted them before they could keep going.
"It's fine. Let's just get out." Of course I wouldn't admit my old fears.

"Do tell me.. are you, just by chance, scared of the dark? Or perhaps it's the walls being too close to you? Is it memories from your past- I'm sorry, that was too far. If you're not alright we can just stop and try to distract you from whatever is going on right no-" Hange already started blabbering the second I finished my own sentence, ending in an eye roll and with using my hand to press it over their mouth, shutting them up.

"You can't distract me. I only have one goal right now."

"Try me."